weekend.

In the library, waiting for Bio Powerpoints to load… I have to try to get all my Conservation Biology notes during my free hours at PUC, since neither Dan nor I have Word or its cousin programs.  Works, well, works, so I haven’t felt like it was worth it to spend the extra $80+.  Maybe we should ask for it as a combined gift for Christmas? =P

Anyway, the past few days have been pretty exhausting.  I had a bad week last week, probably because I’m trying to ration all medication since I don’t know when I’ll get more, and I don’t function very well without it.  I missed too much class; my goal for this week isn’t to miss any.  It sounds stupid that I’m a (super!) senior and I haven’t figured out how to go to class by now, but it’s all part of being crazy I guess. =P

My parents dropped by Thursday night with Kassi; we stayed up too late and they left early the next morning to see Kaeli run cross-country (with her PUC team, of course) in San Francisco.  Then Marcia came down on Saturday evening; the three of us went out to Olive Garden and she spent the night.  The next day we got breakfast at Denny’s and headed into San Francisco to the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  It was SO VERY CROWDED.  There was literally NO parking in the Park itself – no small feat, I assure you – and we had to park across the street, a mile or so away.

The Academy building itself is totally different from the one I used to visit back in high school.  This is a drawing of how it looks from the outside…

(The fountains were full of children, not water, when we were there)

… and here’s how it ‘looks’ from the inside =P

(Contrary to the image, space is not actually inside the first dome)

This from the website:

The new Academy is a single structure but contains multiple venues, including the aquarium, the planetarium, the natural history museum and the 4-story rainforest. In addition, there’s a new 3D theater, a lecture hall, a Naturalist Center, two restaurants, an adjacent garden and aviary, a roof terrace, and an Academy store.

The new building also houses the Academy science labs and administrative offices, including an extensive library and scientific archive consisting of more than 20 million specimens.

I’m sure this would be an absolutely wonderful place to visit on a weekday, but on this particular Sunday, it was PACKED (thus, the complete lack of parking, apparently.)  If you wanted to see anything, you had to wait between 30 seconds-5 minutes or more, and that’s if you push your way towards the front.  (Children, they are pushy.  If you don’t push back, I realized, you’ll stay IN the back.  Yes, I was crowdsurfing with children to see the penguins, lol.  But they were pengies!)  We never made it to the planetarium or the 3D theatre, because they were ‘sold out’ (the prices are included with admission, but apparently they sold too many tickets that day so there was no room for us.)  We also didn’t go up in the rainforest biodome, because the line to get in that thing stretched across the entire building and would take 4+ hours.

Instead, we crammed our way into the aquarium and saw some cool things, though it was pretty humid and kinda scary down there in the basement at a few points, thanks to the crowds.  I liked the alligators (there’s an albino one! neat!) but was confused at how the reptiles were scattered, seeminly at random, among the underwater animals.  I miss the all-inclusive reptile and amphibian section from before! =(  (We most certainly would have seen amphibians if we made it into the rainforest section, but I’m not sure about reptiles.)  The Africa hall of taxidermied animals (with the occasional small live animal, just to freak you out, lol) looked pretty much exactly the same as in the old building though, which was comforting.  (The chameleons! so cute! and the pengies were in there too, and they were REALLY cute!)  No Far Side Gallery, which was disappointing, but overall I liked the new Academy anyway.  At least, I think I do – I won’t really know until I go back when there’s not every person in the Bay Area visiting. =P

After our Academy experience, we walked back in the car and drove all around San Francisco (me getting more carsick by each screetching halt) until we made it to Chinatown, where we ate at a restaurant Dan and his mom have gone to frequently.  I got un-carsick enough to eat the delicious food, and then carsick again on the way home and just about saw it again.  Lovely!  (Getting motion-sick + city driving + backseat = no good.)

And then, at home, what greets me but: homework, housework, laundry, chores, errends, and exciting activities of all kinds.  So, I did homework for exactly one class (English; I read) then I went to sleep.  Meaning I still have all that fun stuff to do when I get home today, at 6:30pm.  (I’m wearing the last two socks in my sock drawer.  They do not match; in fact, I’m pretty sure one of them isn’t even mine.)